What do you think of my movie review?

I made a review of Sunshine, and I want to know your opinions. This is my first review ever and your advices would be welcomed.

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Sunshine is a movie that took me completely by surprise. I found the blu-ray version for cheap in a mall and bought it because I was intrigued by the premise, never knowing or hearing anyting about this movie before. It turns out this is an excellent movie and one of my favorites this year, even though it's made in 2007.

The action takes place in 2057 when an international crew of astronauts is sent on a journey to save the world from a dying sun. They are on board of a ship called Icarus II, which carries a bomb the size of Manhattan thst should theoretically create a second sun within the first sun (whatever that means).

The movie has a bit of a slow start, showing how the crew spends their time in space. This does a very good job at setting up the action aswell as showing us the cool future tech they employ on the ship.

The writing is decent but not great, however the acting is pretty good. Cillian Murphy and Cliff Curtis are especially good as Capa and Searle, while Rose Byrne seems a little dull .

The action starts picking up when they get close to Mercury and receive a very weak transmission from Icarus I, the first ship that was sent to the sun 7 years prior but failed the mission and was lost for unknown reasons.

After a short debate the crew decides to go on bord and check for survivors, but more importantly to get their hands on Icarus I's payload, since two bombs will increase their chances of success.

I am not going to talk about everything that happens from now on because I don't want to spoil all of it, but I will mention some stuff I liked and disliked about the movie.

What I liked about it the most was the sense of desperation and then acceptance the characters got towards the latter half of the movie when everything started going bad, and they went from hoping to fix the problems and go home, to just making sure they will complete the mission knowing they will die. The movie did a pretty good job making me believe there is still hope, just to take it away shortly after.

One such moment happened when Michelle Yeoh (Corazon) found a plant growing in the ship's garden which was destroyed previously by an explosion, and everyone believed they will run out of air and never make it home without it.

But the plant growing signified that the garden may recover, and they may still get back home. She was of course killed moments later by the captain of Icarus I who went insane and infiltrated their ship. Everything just went downhill even more from there on.

The design of the ship seemed realistic although some of the interiors reminded me of videogames a bit. Actually more parts of this movie looked like a videogame (especially towards the end), which is something I noticed more and more with movies lately. It may be because alot of the crazy shit we would see in movies is now done reliably in games too.

The soundtrack is really good and the theme "Surface of the sun" is excellent. You should listen to it, it's on youtube.

As for what I didn't like, my biggest problem is with the villan (the captain of Icarus I) which is introduced in the second part of the movie. He is badly burned by the sun, but for what I can asume are rating reasons, they almost never show him clearly. So instead they opt for this slasher movie visuals where he is all hazy and you can barely see him.

He also seems to be some sort of Freddy Kruegeresque character that hunts the people on the ship. It doesn't turn into a fully blown horror movie fortunately, and he does contribute at setting up the third act at least, but he was handled poorly.

Overall, I would say this is a very good movie and you should watch it if you haven't seen it.

cough cough,*shouting the other direction* YO @rorie CHECK THIS OUT

I love sunshine so much, such a great and underrated movie.

Also I think they avoid showing the antagonist because it's part of the fear of the unknown aspect which plays into the movie, especially the second half. Him having superhuman powers somehow is pretty out of left field though, and I think that puts some people off of the movie, but I enjoyed it regardless.

Good movie, more of a synopsis than a review, spellcheck.

@kidavenger: I checked it once but I probably missed some

I also really enjoy Sunshine. This is a synopsis full of spoilers, however, not a review. If someone who has not yet seen the movie read this, they'd be upset. When writing a review, you want to avoid story spoilers and expand your opinion. The whole point of reading a review is to get the writer's opinion beyond "it was good" while not feeling like they are reading a book report.

You gloss over a few of your points. You say "the writing is decent but not great". What makes it merely decent, in your opinion? What do you think makes great writing and how is that not exhibited in Sunshine's script? Did the dialogue sound natural and move the story or did it sound like filler? Were the characters flat and uninteresting or unrealistic? I, and your other readers, would like to know why you were unimpressed with the script.

You say the soundtrack is good and I agree with you but I want to know why you like it. How does the music make you feel? Is it a purely atmospheric score or is the music used to punch up certain scenes? Does it remind you of some of your other favorite film scores or is it like nothing you've ever heard before? I agree with you that "Surface of the Sun" is a great piece of music, but why do you think so? For me, I love the way it starts softly with just a melancholy string section then slowly adds piano and other unconventional sound effects, building a sense of triumph while remaining sad. It is tragic, heart-breaking but also heart-warming. It reminds me of Hans Zimmer's "Journey to the Line" or Clint Mansell's "Welcome to Lunar Industries".

Conveying your opinion about something, especially a work of fiction, while not discussing plot points is really difficult. I write a book blog so I completely understand the struggle. Learning to convey your opinion, how the experience made you feel, what the experience made you think, without spoiling the story will make your reviews much better and you will have a better chance at retaining readers. Keep at it!